Just a kiss
by superbanana
Summary: Leaf kisses Arthur Gasp and the cow really hits the bonnet when Suzy sees. Please review and be kind it's my first one ever.
1. Kisses and tears

A/N: Okay this is my first ever fanfiction so please please please read and review I would really like to know if I should bother continuing.

Arthur Penhaligon , the Rightful Heir to the House, the Keys of the Kingdom and the Architect, Master of the Lower House, Lord of the Far Reaches, Duke of the Border Sea, Overlord of the Great Maze, Commander of the Glorious Army of the Architect, and Lord of the Middle House looked up at the small crowd of denziens that sat around his chair.

Arthur sat in the tallest chair, in a hastily erected tent, or at least what looked from the outside to be a tent. Inside it was the size of the assembly hall from his school, and sighed wearily. Denziens were not stupid on purpose, they were extremely dedicated to a job once they understood what the job was. Unfortunately denziens were generally very slow at understanding most things.

Dame Primus was speaking again. She had been talking for the last half an hour and Arthur was slowly losing his patience. However wearily he forced himself to listen to her unstoppable mantra "-nearly 12,956,732 patients have been experienced by the afore mentioned trustee "Lady Friday". There has been a great many infractions from the great architects will" here she gave a little fake cough and began speaking again "Firstly I must strongly advise you Lord Arthur" Here she inclined her head towards Arthutr "to ban the act that has been named experiencing and I also advise you, Lord Arthur, to begin opening channels with the trustee calling herself Superi-"

"-Look I don't care about that I want to know what's happened to my mother and then I want to go home" said Arthur his voice sounding slightly muffled through his gritted teeth. Why couldn't they just help him?

"Really Lord Arthur" replied Dame Primus in an indignant tone " I still cannot understand this need to hold onto your mortality. You can never handle your duties as you should if you do not severe ties with your past life."

Arthur took a deep breath and then let it out a little to quickly. He caught Leafs eye, from where she was sitting in between Wednesday and Mondays dawns, the golden light shining off both ladies gave her skin an eerie look. "Can you go to our world and find out what you can about my mum and where she's gone?" he asked feeling guilty to ask so much from someone he had known for such a small amount of time. He doubted even his friends from before he moved would have done this for him.

Leaf looked at him then at Dame primus who was frowning at her and then to Suzy who had been forced to stand behind Mondays Noon and was scowling at Dame Primus. "Of course I will Arthur and if Ed's out if quarantine then he can help me and then I'll… I'll um …er how can I contact you, the mariner told me not to use his medallion and I lost the glasses that Doctor Scamandros gave me before. So even if I find anything out I wont be able to find the House,"

Her voice trailed off her eyes intently looking at Arthur who turned to look at Doctor Scamandros " Doctor do you have anything that can help her? Like another pair of glasses or something?"

Doctor Scamandros looked thoughtful for a moment and then, like a lightbulb going off above his head he said "aahhh I have just the thing sir. Now where did I put it. Somewhere in here I think" and began looking through large pockets on the inside of his admirals dress coat and bringing out lots of strange objects; a large table, a cord of grey wire that Arthur was sure was used in light fittings, a bird cage which was thankfully birdless, a kettle, a tea caddy and lastly a pair of clunky boots with frayed laces and scuff marks along the sides and front.

" Self walking boots" said Scamandros noticing Arthur and Leafs questioning look "When you want to come to the house simply click your heels 3 times and say "These boots are made for walking" and they will walk to the front door. They're also ensocered so they should look like the common footwear for your world which I believe is the trainer"

"Thanks" said Leaf gratefully taking the shoes from Scamandros.

"Now you should return to your world and we should return to the list. With your leave Lord Arthur" Said Dame Primus briskly looking down at her ever present list. It wasn't a question but Arthur ignored her.

Leaf turned to the door ready to leave, clutching the boots in her hands, being led by sneezer who seemed to have appeared out of thin air.

"Wait" leaf turned around and saw that it was Arthur who had spoken. He walked towards her his fist clenching and unclenching nervously "I wanted to…I want you to know that I…er thanks"

Arthur didn't know what to say to her. she was going to do help him, again!, and he didn't know how to quite thank her she was the best friend that he had ever had. Apart from Suzy. But Suzy was slightly different Arthur couldn't put his finger on it but some how Suzy couldn't fit into the same category as leaf and his other friends it was like trying to put a square through a triangular hole.

Leaf looked at Arthur who was standing in front of her looking awquard for a second and then leaned forward and kissed him on the lips,i t was not the kiss a friend might give but one that a couple miht gove one another, but it was a quick non friend kiss. There was silence for a long moment both of them looking at each other in shock. Everybody stared at them except for Dame Primus who was still consulting her list.

Then as though someone had pushed the play button everyone turned back to their conversations.You would have thought that no one had noticed, except for the fact that no one looked at Arthur as though afraid about what he would do if he thought that they were snooping. Suzy was the only one who hadn't turned away though, She was standing mute as a statue staring at the space between the two embarrassed people, as though some aura of the kiss was still hanging guiltily in the air. Her jaw clenched and her back became rigid, a small vein pulsed in the corner of her unclean forehead.

"Um, thank you" muttered Arthur his face having gone completely red. Slowly but without looking back he turned and walked back to his seat.

Her own face glowing red Leaf turned around and followed the retreating back of Sneezer.

"Now if we can continue with the lis-" began Dame Primus as though nothing had happened but Arthur interrupted her again. "I want to know what's happened to my mother." He paused then, his mind still foggy from what had just happened but he tried none the less "so I guess this means I have to go after Saturday and then just go with that."

Arthur knew that as a plan it didn't exactly win any prizes at being really good. " Suzy and I can get in easily and then we can try to get the key can't we Suzy?"

Suzy had not looked away from the space that the kiss had taken place but at hearing her name she looked up straight into Arthur's eyes and he was surprised to see her eyes were sparkling with some strong emotion. " No" she whispered she still looked into Arthur's eyes "No, get someone else to 'elp you Artie" her voice grew stronger rising louder with every word "why don't you ask her that just left. She'll 'elp you no probs but I aint gonna" Her voice broke on the last word and a tear rolled down her dirty cheek.

The tear seemed to open the floodgates and Suzy ran passed Arthur out of the tent and into the weird way that the others came from that led to Mondays day-room.

"Suzy!" yelled Arthur but she did not stop her small frame disappearing from view. But Arthur was sure as Suzy had gone past he had some more tears joining there fellow on her wet cheek.


	2. Kiss and make up

-1A/N: I know I only wrote chapter one yesterday but I couldn't help myself. Please read and review and thank you to lleidane for the review it was really helpful :)

This time no one looked away. A few more people called after Suzy but she did not return and no-one else spoke. Arthur just stared at the weird ways entrance. Suzy had _never _said no to him before. Whenever he had gone after the morrow days, Suzy had _always _been there. She was just _there_, he needed her and the worst part of this was he hadn't noticed that he needed her until she had run off.

Arthur turned his head to look at his silent audience "Where's she gone?"

"To her room, most probably. That is where she always resides when she is shirking her duties. Now Lord Arthur, I must really insist that we get back to the list" answered Dame primus ruffling her precious list and Arthur had a vision of snatching the damn list from her hands and smacking her head with it.

"No! I need to go and find her and find out what's wrong" Arthur wasn't stupid but he wasn't exactly an expert on girls and he couldn't understand why Suzy would act this way. But he did notice Monday and Wednesdays dawns exchange significant looks.

Sneezer scuttled back into the tent and Arthur called him over "Sneezer can you take me to Suzy's room. I need to talk to her." Sneezer didn't look surprised but he eyed Arthur speculately he nodded his head and wheezed "Of course M'lord if you step this way" he turned and began to scuttle towards the weird ways entrance.

"Wait. Lord Arthur I must protest. There are nearly 59,824,625,114 points of order to which we must discuss and there is the situation with Superior Saturday" interrupted Dame Primus loudly her voice however was less sharp since the addition of the 5TH part of the will.

"I will sort that out when I get back, but I have to speak to Suzy first" answered Arthur, still following Sneezers disappearing back, hoping that Suzy would be talking to him when he had to come back.

When Arthur got through the entrance he found himself in a moderately large hallway with pictures covering the red pastel coloured walls. He was embarrassed when he saw a picture that was obviously supposed to be him in a heroic pose, but the artist had tried to make him look more heroic, the artist had gone a bit over board with the muscles, Arthur didn't think anyone had that many of them..

It took about twenty minutes to get through the weird way but Arthur's feeling of dread got worse with every second. He had never seen Suzy cry she was nearly always smiling (at Arthur generally) or scowling (at Dame Primus generally) but she never cried. He couldn't fathom why she would be so upset. Okay Leaf had kissed him but that couldn't be it surely. He tried to think what had happened before that.

Dame Primus had forced Suzy to stand by Mondays noon (that used to dusk) and Arthur had been forced to listen to her unending list. Could something have happened before the meeting? Arthur couldn't believe that Leaf kissing him would make her cry.

Suddenly the surroundings changed but sneezer kept walking. They were back in Mondays dayroom. "Walk this way Lord Arthur, sir. Mondays tierce's room is situated two floors above and four rooms to the left. Will you need anything at all" asked Sneezer respectfully.

"Um no thanks Sneezer. Thank you and actually there is something. Do you know why Suzy ran off" replied Arthur he wondered if Sneezer had even seen it but he remembered that his sister had done some work for an old lady and had told them that servants hear everything. Sneezer looked at Arthur carefully and said his answer slowly as though he was thinking about the answer very carefully "I don't understand it completely, but with respect milord I think Mondays tierce should be the one to explain it sir. I think you should ask _her_ that question sir."

"Right. Thanks sneezer" muttered Arthur he hadn't understood and if Sneezer understood then so should he but again he drew a blank.

Arthur trudged up the steps that looked remarkably similar to the ones on the improbable stair, white marble, until he came to the second landing. He turned left and counted doors until he came to a red varnished wood door that was scratched and old. There was a brass handle and that was it.

Arthur took a deep breath, something he did a lot these days, and knocked on the scarred door.

There was a moment of silence than something hit the door with a loud "THUNK". Arthur winced at the sound but tried again "Suzy, it's me, Arthur, can I come in?" there was a much shorter silence then something else hit the door with an even louder "THUNK!".

Arthur took that as a no but tried again. He needed to talk to Suzy. "Suzy. Please I just want to talk. Please can I come in". There was silence. Arthur really hoped that she had run out of things to throw and opened the door.

The room was large like most other rooms and Arthur noticed that Suzy's boots were in a heap in front of the door (that explained the "THUNKS"). The rooms walls were white and there was a desk in the corner with a piece of paper on it and Suzy's top hat. There was a chest of drawers that seemed to be made from the same wood as the door, and a four poster bed with grubby white sheets and some faded pillowcases. Suzy was lying on top of the sheets a pillow over her head. She had obviously not heard the door open and thought that he had gone away.

He walked over to the bed, careful not to make any noise, and sat down beside her on the bed. She looked up immediately. Her face was almost clean from the amount of tears, her eyes were bloodshot and her nose looked snotty but Arthur's throat tightened, he didn't want to see Suzy crying ever, it just wasn't right.

Her expression became angry when she saw him and in a lightning movement she stood up on the bed and said in a thick voice "I neva said come in did I? Go away Arthur I don't wanna talk to you!"

Arthur refused to leave, he needed to see her smile before he left "No Suzy. What's wrong? Why did you leave?" Suzy's face was still angry and her voice became mocking but her eyes couldn't quite hide the hurt that she was feeling "you don't know do you? Well why are you askin me Artie? How would I know bout anyfin? Ask Leaf if you love 'er so much."

Arthur was more than confused he wasn't used to Suzy being so, well, angry. "What? Suzy what's going on, Leaf's my friend." Suzy snorted making her face look even more snotty "Friend ey. Yeah if she's your friend then I'm ole Primey. You wouldn't kiss me would you? Hell you wouldn't kiss anyone 'cept 'er " the last word was said with such venom that Arthur mentally winced.

"I didn't kiss anyone Suzy. Leaf kissed me and why are you so upset about it?" asked Arthur hoping that she would answer him. He was really confused but he was beginning to have suspicions.

Suzy looked at him for a moment then slowly she walked off the bed. Her unbooted feet made a small noise as it hit the hard wood floor. She turned her back to him and whispered something that Arthur couldn't hear "What? Suzy, please, why are you so upset about this?" Arthur repeated his suspicions growing with every passing moment.

Suzy whirled around " I'm _upset_ Artie cause she kissed you. I'm _upset_ cause you let 'er kiss you. An I'm _upset_ cause you'd neva kiss me like that" her voice trailed off at the last sentence, her cheeks went pink and she turned her back to him again, as though ignoring him would make him forget what she had just said.

Arthur stared at her, his mouth slightly open. He had found himself before thinking that he wanted Suzy around but he never thought that Suzy wanted him back for any other reason than that they were friends. Her shoulders were slumped and her hair was messily hanging down her back, he couldn't see her face but she seemed mortified. Arthur walked forward and touched her shoulders.

They stood looking at nothing for almost a minute before Suzy looked up at him. Her face was resigned and then surprised when she saw Arthur's face was not disgusted.

"Your upset because Leaf kissed me" Arthur confirmed softly. Suzy blushed an even brighter pink and nodded her head "I didn't kiss her" Arthur repeated still softly.

Suzy sighed and said in a tight voice "I'm old Arthur. If I was back in my time, I would 'ave been betrothed, an married, an 'ad kids, an died" here she paused an looked into nothing as though she could see it all on the white walls "but I aint in my time. I'm 'ere. Stuck as a kid forever an I used to not care, but, when we get all the keys your gonna go 'ome an grow up with, Leaf," here she made a face and her voice became bitter "an then you'll come back. An your not gonna be a kid. An you wont be my friend or anyfin else" here her face, if possible, went even more pink.

Arthur looked at her, she looked miserable. "I have to go home to my family, Suzy." whispered Arthur. "I know that but I'm already losin you, Arthur an that Leaf's gonna get you to 'erself I can tell. T'aint fair neither, I can do just as much as 'er but you'll still choose 'er"

Arthur looked at Suzy and thought hard. Suzy thought he liked Leaf instead of her. Arthur needed to do something or say something really good to make her realize that he would have chosen her if she had told him. The clogs in his mind worked furiously but all he managed to say was "um…your not her" it had sounded right in his head but not in his mouth. Furiously she turned round out of his arm which had come down from her shoulder to rest around her waist and walked to the other side of the room.

"Yes, thanks Artie. I know I aint your precious Leaf. Well you no what I don't wanna she's pathetic an if that's who you wanna walk out with then that's fine with me!" She was yelling now and Arthur realised what he should do.

He almost ran towards her in his enthusiasm. He stopped abruptly when he was close enough. He took Suzy's hand in his left and with his right hand he gently took her chin and kissed her. This kiss lasted longer than the one with Leaf and Suzy after a moments hesitation kissed him back. He let go of her hand and slid them across her back to pull her closer to him, she responded by pulling her hands to his neck. They broke apart when they both needed to breathe.

Suzy just looked at him. Arthur took her hand and whispered, "I want you Suzy" he paused to look at her properly "I think we should talk"


	3. kiss and tell

A/N: Suzy and Arthur belong together don't they? Please review and thanks for the review techno-poet it was really nice ; )

Suzy looked up at Arthur, who was about four inches taller than her, and nodded. Soundlessly they moved towards the bed. Once they got there however, reality caught up with them and Arthur felt the beginnings of worry creeping up on him, as they stood looking at the bed.

Arthur's head was swimming with overwhelming thoughts. He had kissed Suzy. Suzy had kissed him back, but had she just been being polite? No, he thought firmly and mentally shaking himself, this was Suzy. But then again…

After a long moment, Suzy sat down on the bed and seeing Arthur's face, she took his hand and tugged it gently, guiding him to sit next to her. She let go of his hand quickly after he was sat down as though she thought it might burn her if she kept her hold on it. Now she was looking at her bootless feet shyly and fingering a frayed edge of her over coat. Arthur noticed that although she was wearing two pairs of stockings and a pair of thick woollen socks, her (surprisingly) dainty (but unsurprisingly) dirty toe still managed to poke out through the constricting fabrics.

Arthur felt he should say something and opened his mouth to speak. Then he shut it again. Suzy looked up from where she had been staring resolutely at her feet and looked into Arthur's face. They both grinned stupidly and the tension eased, somewhat, from the room. Both of them sighed happily, Arthur noticed that Suzy's eyes shone brighter than he had ever seen before.

Arthur had never really taken the time to look at Suzy properly and appreciate that she was actually, under the general grime that had accumulated over a millennia without a bath, very pretty.

Her eyes were a peculiar shade of hazel with generous amounts of gold flecks around the edges. Her face was narrow with quite high cheekbones and a small pink mouth. Her skin was actually very pale, he could only see this because her face, which was framed by roughly cut blonde hair, had paler tracks of skin where her tears must have run down. Arthur felt a sudden jolt in his stomach as he realised that _he_ had caused those tears.

Without thinking about it, his hand came up and traced the outline of her face, stopping at her chin.

"I'm sorry, Suzy about everything" he whispered and he was speaking truthfully. Now that he thought about it, he could remember other times when he had given her cause to cry. When he had yelled at her and with a jolt he thought that she must have been upset at the meeting before he had been enlisted to the glorious army of the architect, at the time he had thought that she was just annoyed because of Dame Primus, that was definitely why _he_ was annoyed at the time. But she had come with him any way or at least had tried to.

He found himself smiling at Suzy and seeing her smile, tentatively back. "You don't, 'alf look serious, Arthur" she teased, turning her body so one leg was on the bed, while the other stayed on the floor, her hand came to rest on his knee. Arthur copied her movement and accidentally managed to tangle there legs and Suzy's hand together. Suzy giggled when Arthur, after a moment of fumbling, righted himself, his face red with embarrassment.

"You look really cute when you blush" smiled Suzy going a little red herself. Arthur took her hand, which had moved back down to his knee, and traced the veins that ran under the fragile skin.

"Do you remember the meeting just before I got recruited?" asked Arthur still tracing the blue patterns along her arm. "Yeah" replied Suzy. Her face, which had been lazily relaxed, was now looking at Arthur with such intensity that he felt a shiver run down his spine.

"Were you angry with me?" asked Arthur, now tracing her slim fingers with his own. "N-no, not with you" replied Suzy shakily, her face beginning to soften again. "You were jealous of Leaf then" supplied Arthur now looking at Suzy.

Suzy's face was immediately hard at the mention of Leaf and she pulled her hand away from Arthur's without conscious effort. "No I weren't never jealous, I was just annoyed that she was acting all high 'n' mighty an acting like she new 'bout anything." She answered hotly.

Arthur looked at her for a moment and said in a voice that his elder siblings had perfected when talking to any of their younger siblings around, which tended to be just him nowadays, "Oh right sorry, I just thought that you were, jealous I mean, you know, because you seemed to dislike her, but obviously you don't have any problems with her at all. I'm so glad you're over that."

Suzy deflated a bit at his words and after a small internal battle she placed her hands back in his and said in a quiet voice, "Yeah okay, maybe I was a bit jealous, but I never thought she'd actually kiss you!" her face looked sour at the last sentence and she edged closer to him.

Arthur smiled at her uncommon bashfulness and lifted her left hand to his lips and kissed the knuckles, the way he'd seen so many others do, in the old films that he'd watched when he was recovering from an asthma attack.

Suzy looked at him for a moment and then burst out laughing. Arthur was taken aback, he had assumed that from the era she was from this kind of gesture would have been common, although he remembered that if Suzy couldn't remember her family, he doubted that she would remember this.

"The posh knobs used to do that to a fine lady" Breathed Suzy, proving Arthur wrong and that she remembered something of her past life, once her laughs had subsided. She looked at him through a veil of hair that had fallen over her face as she had laughed. "This is how normal people would do it" and with that she leaned forward and captured his mouth.

Arthur was stunned for a moment but he could sense that, although she had spoken easily, there was still an underlying tension, as though she was afraid that he would stop her. He kissed her back, his mouth turning up into a cheeky grin against her lips.

This time Arthur explored her mouth slightly. His tongue traced the warm cavern of her mouth. Meanwhile Suzy moved even more forward until she was almost sitting in Arthur's lap. Her arms came up and rested around his neck, Arthur's own arms snaked around her small waist and pulled her completely on his lap. He felt her tongue dart out of her mouth and trace the curve of his lip, his own crashed into hers and they began a fierce duel.

Suzy's grip tightened as she tried to get even closer, both of them overbalanced at the same time and fell sideways onto the bed. Arthur landed on his back with Suzy still on his lap. She giggled against his mouth and Arthur grinned albeit a bit sheepishly. Suzy rolled off of him so that now, they were lying shoulder to shoulder, both looking at the ceiling with identical silly grins.

Arthur was surprised to find himself wishing that she had not rolled away, he already missed the feel of her. He turned his head to see that she was already looking at her "I prefer this way" he said , trying to sound casual but sounding more awed to his ears, Suzy grinned and batted her eyelashes playfully "does that mean I'm better at it than Leaf?" she asked. 

It was a rhetorical question but Arthur felt himself answering "Yeah, I mean Leaf didn't kiss me as long as you did though".

Suzy's face had changed from playful to mournful at his words and then said in a quiet voice "did you want her to kiss you for as long as that."

Arthur realised his mistake and said quickly "No! I don't, I didn't." Angrily he rolled over so that he was lying on his stomach and slightly on Suzy, he couldn't believe that he had just ruined the moment like that _again_. Suzy saw his face and hers softened. Arthur raised the top of his body slightly so that he was above her and then quickly darted in for another quick kiss. He broke away quickly though and was happy to hear Suzy's frustrated huff.

"Why'd you stop" she asked in a scandalized voice that reminded him of Dame Primus, when he had mentioned breaking a rule. "Oh did you want me to kiss you again Suzy?" he asked in mock seriousness. He was slightly surprised when Suzy rolled once more onto his lap. "Yes Arthur, I believe that I did want you to kiss me" she answered her voice becomingly playful once more. She bent her head to kiss him once again and would have done if someone had not knocked on the door at that very moment.

Suzy sighed and turned to look at the door "Yes" she said her tone sounding deliciously flustered. Arthur smirked and kissed her cheek. She gave him a "I'll get you for that look" before they both returned their attention to the door.

However they both nearly fell over again, when Dame Primus, and most of the other Denziens walked into the room.

A/N duodenum! Oh no what are they going to do now. Review and you'll find out.


	4. sweet kiss

A/N: Thanks, Techno-poet, Miss Pookamonga and heartless, for the reviews they were really nice. Please review they make the days brighter : ) Also this is the last chapter in this story, but I am planning on writing another one soon, and sorry about the delay.

There was complete silence. Arthur thought that if a pin had dropped, at that very moment, everyone would have jumped ten feet in the air. He saw everything in sharp focus.

Mondays dusk (that used to be noon) and Mondays noon (that used to be dusk) were standing next to each other. The brothers faces were wearing identical looks of shock on their unnaturally handsome features. He saw the Monday and Wednesday and Thursdays Dawns clustered together next to Suzy's writing desk. Then there was the commissionaires. They had raced into the room straight after Dame Primus, but had stopped when they saw Arthur, lying on the bed, and Suzy, straddling him, there faces, frozen in shock at such an unbelievable intrusion, were still mere inches away from each other. Then there was Dame Primus herself. She was clutching her list like a life preserver. Her knuckles were white even though Arthur was sure she didn't have any blood to make them so.

And then, of course, there was Suzy, she was looking at the group that seemed to all be looking from her to Arthur. Very slowly she relinquished her grip on his tee shirt, which she had been using to keep her balance. Then equally slowly she slid off of his lap, wilting under the stares of all the denziens that were in the room and the much larger group that were standing just outside the doorway. Vaguely he recognised Sunscorch and Matthias through the crowded entrance.

It was Dame Primus who broke the silence first her voice, in her agitation, had become booming and ear shattering. "What impropriety is this!" she pointed her hand at Suzy, her eyes glinting angrily. No one was looking at Arthur anymore, all gazes were locked onto Suzy. She looked scared and began to edge away from Arthur and towards the pillows.

Arthur felt anger rise once again, at the fact that Suzy's face was chagrined and that they all seemed to be blaming her. He stood up, drawing all gazes to himself and hiding Suzy from sight. He crossed his arms and said in a would be casual voice "can we help you?"

Dame Primus made a choking noise at the back of her throat in an unsuccessful bid to stop the rant that had built up in the seconds of silence "Suzanna! Turquoise! Blue! Come out from behind Lord Arthur this instant!"

Arthur felt Suzy begin to move slightly beside him, but he reach behind him and found her hand. She tried to pull away at first, but he held fast and her hand tightened around his as she walked from behind him, to stand by his side.

Dame Primus let out a hiss of frustration and lent forward towards Arthur. He became instantly aware of how tall she was with 5 parts of the will, she was nearly 12 feet tall, there was a gold light that seemed to emanate from her very being. Arthur gulped and felt like he was drowning in her eyes, they were completely black, like ink. He could see words begin to appear on her face small phrases like "from nothing came the…" and "Lo, she had said that any who…". the part of his mind that was still conscientiously thinking was screaming at him, but it's shrill voice was getting quieter and quieter as his mind seemed to collapse, his heart raced and he found that he couldn't move, he was trapped. He needed to look away but he just couldn't clouded thoughts swirled around his brain, he had upset her, something this majestic, he felt shame pooling in his stomach, but still he could not look away.

And then he felt someone's arm slide around his waist, it was like being pulled out of a deep pit and seeing the sun again, he blinked and the spell was broken he looked sideways at Suzy and gave her a thankful look then hesitantly he returned his gaze to Dame Primus who couldn't hide her look of annoyance. "Lord Arthur, I must apologise for Suzanna's actions she will be punished for it accordingly. In the meantime, there is much we have to do. Suzanna stop this foolishness and stand by noon there is much that you must do as well."

Arthur felt annoyance at them all, at there narrow mindedness and the way they were acting he leaned forward once more and said levelly "we'll be down in a minute but Suzy will _not _be punished she hasn't done anything wrong! Now leave us… Please" he added as an after thought.

Dame Primus bristled and there was a faint murmuring amongst the crowd at his dismissal but, none, it seemed would defy a direct command from the rightful heir. They turned and walked towards the door. There was a bit of a pile up when they got there but it quickly stopped as the denziens filed out.

Arthur noticed Suzy, making to move and pulled her back. His hand traced her face tenderly and then he leant forward and kissed her cheek. It was not an urgent kiss, like before this one was unhurried, but he tried to fit all of his feelings into it, he wanted her to know that he would always choose her. Her skin had a faint smoky smell, almost like the smog from her own time had got into her skin, but Arthur found that he liked it.

He smiled and said quietly " Suzy will you come with me to fight Saturday?" it wasn't an order at that moment Arthur wasn't capable of ordering Suzy to do anything, he mentally promised that he would never order her again in situations like this.

Suzy smiled and traced his lip with her finger "Course I will Arthur, Gotta 'ent I, 'eaven knows what'll 'appen if I don't" she smiled and swiftly kissed him on the lips that she had just been tracing. They looked at each other for a long moment with expressions that showed they understood each other.

Then without another word Suzy took his hand and walked to the door. Arthur sighed happily, he felt invigorated. If he had Suzy by his side then suddenly everything seemed a lot less bleak.

Of course there were still the remaining morrow days, the imminent collapsing of the house, the piper and his hoard of endless new nithlings, there was the fact that Suzy might be turned on him by the pipers mysterious pipe but they all faded into misty nothingness as Suzy nearly hopped by his side.

So Arthur Penhaligon, the Rightful Heir to the House, the Keys of the Kingdom and the Architect, Master of the Lower House, Lord of the Far Reaches, Duke of the Border Sea, Overlord of the Great Maze, Commander of the Glorious Army of the Architect, and Lord of the Middle House walked out into the boring corridor, holding hands with Suzy Turquoise Blue grinning stupidly with a slightly dazed expression, and into the foggy future.

FINI


End file.
